By JAKE ELLISON, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

Updated 8:22 pm, Monday, February 25, 2013

Could Luke Skywalker use a lightsaber to save a hundred Princess Leias?
Photo: Gustavo Caballero, Multiple

Could Luke Skywalker use a lightsaber to save a hundred Princess...

Nope - but it would be more of a technical problem than one of courage.

In this paper, student physicists from the University of Leicester "examine whether or not a ‘lightsaber’ weapon can possibly be produced and used in the same manner as in the ‘Star Wars’ film series. ... The paper considers elements of plasma physics to reach a conclusion, and it turns out that the lightsaber cannot be made (at least with today’s technology) akin to that shown in the well-known ‘Star Wars’ movies."
Photo: Handout, Multiple

Turns out Spider-Man (here saving Aunt May) does spin a fictional web that could hold them up and hold back a speeding train.

In this paper, student physicists from the University of Leicester report in Spider-Man 2 there is a scene in which Spider-Man "stops a runaway train using his webbing to provide a counter-force. Using the information available this paper examines the material properties of the webbing under these conditions and finds the Young's modulus to be 3.12GPa, a reasonable value for spider silk."

So, yes, it would be strong enough.
Photo: James Devaney, Multiple

Turns out Spider-Man (here saving Aunt May) does spin a fictional...

Could James Bond eject you from this car?
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives, Multiple

Could James Bond eject you from this car?

You better believe it:

“This paper analyses the physics of the ejector seat shown in the James Bond film Goldfinger. By looking at frames from the film and modelling the ejection mechanism as a piston providing constant force, the motion of the ejected henchman was calculated. The henchman was found to reach … a height which would not leave him seriously injured. The force required to eject him was found to be … a reasonable pressure and force for a piston to be able to generate.”

In the photo, a car specialist describes the interior of the Aston Martin DB5 driven by actor Sean Connery as James Bond in the "Goldfinger." (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Photo: STAN HONDA, Multiple

Could seagulls lift the peach in this children's story?
Photo: Multiple

Could seagulls lift the peach in this children's story?

It would take a lot of them, that's for sure.

Students write: "In Roald Dahl’s children’s classic James and the Giant Peach a magically enlarged fruit travels across the Atlantic Ocean, partly floated on the water and partly airlifted by a flock of seagulls. Through examining the buoyancy and modelling the seagulls as aerofoils it has been found that although the initial part of the journey is possible, given a sufficiently hollow peach, James would have to tether approximately two and a half million Common Gulls, rather than the 501 as described in the book."
Photo: Multiple

What would it take to teleport Crewman Green, Captain Kirk and Dr. 'Bones' McCoy in this scene from 'The Man Trap,' the premiere episode of 'Star Trek' which aired on Sept. 8, 1966?
Photo: Frame Grab, Getty

What would it take to teleport Crewman Green, Captain Kirk and Dr....

A lot.

"Teleportation of human beings is often featured in science fiction as being a marvel of transportation, instantaneously moving people large distances. This paper investigates the time and energy requirements for the data transfers required to teleport a human being. It is concluded that the data needed to fully map a human brain is so high that the time taken for a 0.5GHz bandwidth is 4.85x1015 years, making teleportation impractical."

(Photo by CBS via Getty Images)
Photo: CBS Photo Archive, Multiple

A lot.

"Teleportation of human beings is often featured in science...

What about those aliens from Mars and the way they got here dreamed up by Herbert George Wells?
Photo: Library Of Congress, Multiple

What about those aliens from Mars and the way they got here dreamed...

The students write: "H.G. Wells popular novel ‘The War of the Worlds’ involved the invasion of Earth by Martians who arrived via cylinders fired from enormous space guns mounted on Mars. ... It is hypothesised that, whilst this would prove fatal to humans, Martians may be able to survive and so Wells theory is not entirely without merit."
Photo: Haywood Magee, Multiple

In "The A-Team," a tank is slowed down by firing its cannon. Could it work?
Photo: Jon Kopaloff, Multiple

In "The A-Team," a tank is slowed down by firing its cannon. Could...

The students write: "The 2010 blockbuster, The A-Team, features a scene where the legendary team find themselves falling from an exploded plane in an M1 Abrams tank. In an attempt to prevent their certain death, the A-team fire the tank's main gun downwards to try to slow their descent. Unfortunately for Hannibal, Murdock, Face and B.A., the main gun would need to be fired an infeasible 11 times to make the impact survivable."
Photo: Jon Kopaloff, Multiple

In 1998 Bruce Willis And Will Patton blow up an asteroid and save the world in "Armageddon." Feasible?
Photo: Getty Images, Multiple

In 1998 Bruce Willis And Will Patton blow up an asteroid and save...

Nope.

The students write: "... sorry Bruce, Gregory Brown and co-workers, even the largest bomb ever built (the 50 megaton 'Big Ivan'), is almost a factor of 9 too small to save the Earth."
Photo: Touchstone Pictures, Multiple

The Leicester students: "The film Speed portrays a bus making a large and seemingly unlikely jump between two sections of partially constructed freeway. This article investigates the feasibility of such a jump by determining what incline the road would need to be at for the bus to successfully make it across; finding that it would need to be at least 7.6 degrees, which is less than that shown in the film, however the energy of the impact would almost certainly damage the bus to the extent that it would no longer be capable of motion."
Photo: Ellison, Jake, Multiple

The Leicester students: "The film Speed portrays a bus making a...

What would it look like to the famed crew of the Falcon when they go into hyperspace?
Photo: Steve Larson, Multiple

What would it look like to the famed crew of the Falcon when they...

"The famous 1970s motion picture Star Wars depicts the stars as stretched beams of light passing the view of the Millennium Falcon as it nears the speed of light. Four physicists from the University of Leicester, Riley Connors, Katie Dexter, Joshua Argyle, and Cameron Scoular, have shown that Han Solo and his companions would not see the stars elongated in this way, due to the laws of special relativity."
Photo: Multiple

"The famous 1970s motion picture Star Wars depicts the stars as...

Possible?
Photo: Multiple

Possible?

They'd survive!

A group of Physicists at the University of Leicester "found that the air in an upside down rowing boat, similar to the one used in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl', could provide enough oxygen for two people to survive for nearly three hours!"
Photo: Multiple

The students: "We found that Batman's cape is too small for a safe glide. Although he would be able to travel around 350m before hitting the ground when jumping from a building 150m high, he would be travelling at around 50mph on impact, which wouldn't end too well. His velocity also quickly reaches a maximum, so even over short distances the glide would be far too dangerous."
Photo: ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images

Student physicists from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom regularly tackle questions posed by movies in their Department of Physics publication Journal of Physics Special Topics.

We rounded up a few of the interesting questions posed by action and props in movies and present the student answers in the gallery above. For more explanation of each answer, click the link in the photo caption.